“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Last Sunday, as part of the celebrations of the 242nd anniversary of America’s Independence Day, everybody in my church proudly recited the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the service. The members of this church typify today’s Americans—people from different countries who speak different languages but love God and freedom. God granted us the privilege to live in the United States for one reason only: to protect our unalienable rights—Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.
While all of us read the Pledge in English, some of us learned it by heart in Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Filipino, Persian, or an African language.
Over fifty years ago, before they left Hungary to come to the United States, a ten-year-old Hungarian boy asked his father, “Why [are we going to] America?” His father, who decided to escape from the Russian Communists that arrested their relatives and seized their property, simply answered, “Because, son, we were born Americans, but in the wrong place.”
Later in life, the boy became an American academic and political scientist, a Professor of Political Science at Ashland University in Ohio. In June 2007, he was honored by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as an “Outstanding American by Choice.” His name is Peter Schramm.
Born American, but in the wrong place?! The answer Professor Schramm’s father gave him was very short, but it illustrated the greatest meaning of coming to America. I am not a born or naturalized American, but the moment I repeated the Pledge of Allegiance, I felt that I am an American, too. I am an American by choice, for America, more than a place, is an idea, or rather an ideal.
America is a “place” that would embrace us if we could prove that we shared in the “idea” (Schramm, 2007).
On the birthday of the United States, many Chinese political dissidents expressed their greatest love for America and deepest gratitude for the United States. Mr. Cao (Cao, Changqing), an independent Chinese writer and reporter living in the United States, strongly disagrees with the Communist Party and promotes individualism, capitalism and American values in China. On July 4, he tweeted emotionally:
Just because of the existence of the United States, the world is filled with hope.
Just because the Star-Spangled Banner still waves, freedom comes to people everywhere.
America, home to the souls of all who love freedom.
Happy Birthday, United States of America!